Chevrolet Nova TCI Tubular Front Clip Install - What A Drag

We Install A TCI Tubular Front Clip In A Street/Strip Nova.

As most Super Chevy readers already know, swapping over to one of today's high-tech front clips in your vintage Bow Tie will offer superior drivability, handling, roadworthiness and braking. We really dig the look of an old-school ride sporting tubular suspension coming at you out on the street.

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It seems like everyone is using these front clips to bring the handling of their '60s and '70s muscle cars into the 21st century. One of the main benefits of these tubular front clips is their lighter-than-stock weight. When talking with Sal Solarzano of Total Cost Involved (TCI) at the 2009 Super Chevy Suspension & Handling Challenge, he mentioned TCI's front clip would take 140 pounds off the front end of a car. This got us to thinking: Could one of these front clips benefit someone who wants to go drag racing in his street machine?

For the intended purposes of this '72 Nova SS-that is, an enjoyable big-block street driver and True Street drag competitor-we weren't concerned about autocross or road racing. For our application, we needed 15-inch front skinnies for the track, so we went with 11-inch Wilwood disc brakes up front.

Many drag racers we spoke to felt there would not be enough suspension travel in a tubular front clip that utilized coil-over shocks. But that 140-lb weight loss gnawed at us, especially since we were installing the 669-horse 509 Dart Rat motor we built in our November and December, 2009 issues ("Real Fine 509, Parts 1 and 2). So, in the interest of science and trying to build a modern, well-rounded street/strip machine, we are going to install this TCI front clip in a Nova. Past experience with hot rods that use TCI front clips guarantee that it'll definitely make the Nova an infinitely better street car, and we're going to find out if it will work on the strip, too.

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Chevrolet Nova TCI Tubular Front Clip Install - What A Drag

Here's our as-delivered TCI front clip right before the worst winter (most snowfall) the northeast has ever seen (2009-'10). Under the plastic wrap you'll notice the bare metal tubing and the boxes containing all the suspension and brake goodies for assembly. At a friend's shop (Shore Wheels, Tuckerton, NJ), a heavy work load and space restrictions left the unfinished frame and suspension components to sit outside in the snow and ice for over three months. Don't ever let this happen unless you enjoy lots of extra work in rust removal.

After uncovering our new subframe, we were horrified to see so much rust was on the bare steel. Even with a pool tarp to cover everything, the...

... snow and moisture worked its way underneath. It only took a few hours with a wire-wheel on an electric drill to rid the frame of rust.

We prepped, primed and painted the clip using these Eastwood products to protect the frame from further rust issues. Total Cost Involved recommends powdercoating or painting after checking for frame fitment to the body. We took our chances, against TCI's recommendations, and rid it of rust and painted it before installation....

Eastwood's PRE was used for proper surface preparation to ensure a clean painting surface. Chassis Black Primer was applied for rust protection and a foundation for the Extreme Chassis Black (Satin) paint. Extreme Chassis Black is resistant to corrosion, chips, scratches, along with being brake fluid and fuel corrosion resistant.

Even though the control arms were in boxes, they also suffered from surface rust. After wire-wheeling and wiping them clean with the PRE surface prep, they were treated to Eastwood's Stainless Steel Epoxy catalyst (part A) and topcoat (part B).

Eastwood's new Mini-Detail Concours HVLP paint gun kit (PN 12250) was used to shoot the control arms with the Stainless Steel Epoxy.

We brushed the cast iron spindles with the Stainless Steel Epoxy for a super durable finish.

Assembly and installation was handled by Steve Letts of Shore Wheels on his off-days (Sunday and Monday).

Here, Steve hangs the control arms, QA1 coilover shocks and the spindles with the attached Wilwood 11-inch disc brake assembly.

Be sure to follow TCI's provided instructions to help ease the task.

The rack gets bolted on using the included bolts, lock nuts, spacers and washers. Be sure it is centered (turn the splined shaft to full lock counting how many turns from lock-to-lock and divide that number in half, then turn back half the distance). Next, the tie rod ends go into the spindle steering arms. Since the Nova will see strip action, we elected not to install the antiroll bar.

Here's our detailed and assembled TCI front clip. This tubular work of art will bring the Nova into the 21st century as far as roadworthiness goes. It will also shave 140 pounds off the nose to make up for the 509's extra weight. The weight savings will change the front-to-rear weight ratio. Stock big-block Novas were close to 60/40 front-to-rear weight bias, which is atrocious. We'll be happy if the Nova ends up being 55/45. The aluminum Dart heads and intake will help, too.

One last look at the grungy, stock subframe assembly. We removed the car's old 396 with help from the previous owner when we purchased the Nova. The radiator, trans and trans crossmember need to be removed before unbolting the factory clip.

The only part of the front body clip needing removal is the front bumper-it's connected to the front subframe. The new front clip has predrilled holes for easy reinstall and alignment of the front bumper.

Our Nova already had weld-on subframe connectors. They just needed a little clearance grinding in order to separate the connectors...

...Our Nova already had weld-on subframe connectors. They just needed a little clearance grinding in order to separate the connectors

...There are two body bolts at the rear, cowl, and core support area (six-bolts total) that need removal to unbolt the stock subframe from the body. Before unbolting,

... we supported the body with a lift...

... The jacking points were behind the firewall on the rocker's flat side and at the rear leaf spring hanger area.

Before raising the body off the subframe, we disconnected the front brake lines, power steering hoses and the rag joint from the steering box shaft.

The body was slowly lifted up inch by inch as we made sure the rag joint was sliding off the steering shaft. Here's a look after lifting the body a few inches. We looked around to be sure there weren't any hang-ups between the body and subframe.

At this point the body was carefully lifted about a foot above the subframe.

This enabled Steve to roll the entire stock subframe assembly out from under the body.

There's an edge flange (lip) in the cowl support/firewall mounting area that needs to ground off.

The TCI front clip has a mounting area that needs to be mounted flush to the cowl support/firewall area. Both the left and right cowl supports need to be ground smooth.

At this point, we only needed to remove the wheels and tires and mount them onto our assembled TCI front clip. Besides being 140 lbs lighter, the new clip is much more attractive and functionally superior with its tubular construction, coilover shocks and rack-and-pinion steering.

Shore Wheels' other Steve (Steve Guenot) was on hand to help roll and guide the clip underneath the body. We lined-up the body mount holes the best we could before Steve Letts carefully lowered the body onto the new clip....

...With the body roughly 1-inch from the subframe, the boltholes were lined up enough to see if we could start to thread (two turns) the supplied bolts. Be sure to use anti-seize on the threads of the provided body mount bolts.

The clip bolts directly to the car except for in the core support area.

That's where Energy Suspension's ultra-durable polyurethane body mount bushings were installed. The '68-74 Nova shares the same subframe and related components as the '67-69 Camaro.

We couldn't mate the frame flush to the body at the four major mounting points-the steering column rag joint was in the way.

Once the rag joint was removed, we were able to tighten all of the body mount bolts to flush-mount the clip.

Here at the rear-most mounting point, it's noticeable the body is flush against the subframe. We'll also rejoin and weld the subframe connectors to the new clip for extra chassis stiffness.

The freshly bolted-on TCI front clip shows off its attributes. It should be a dream to drive this Nova once the steering column, steering shaft with U-joints, and drivetrain are installed.

The original steering column will not clear the TCI clip or hook up to the rack-and-pinion unit. TCI recommends this ididit bolt-in steering column. It adds a multi-position tilt feature, and accepts stock (or many aftermarket) steering wheels. A column ignition key, signals and four-way flashers are also built in. We got ours in satin-black, but ididit offers the column in chrome if you prefer.

It's obvious the added clearance gained from the new ididit steering column. The splined shaft at the base of the column is attached to the Borgeson U-joint.

These two Borgeson stainless steel steering joints and the DD-shaped steering shaft will connect the ididit column to the steering rack. We had to shorten the DD shaft for proper fit.

Lock-to-lock steering is now only 2.25 turns, with virtually no steering wheel lash (looseness). Stock steering was about 3 turns lock-to-lock with the typical 1- to 2-inch of steering wheel lash.

The finishing touch was to drill a 3/8-inch hole through the cowl/firewall support using the bolthole in the mounting bracket as a guide. The 3/8-24x1 button head bolt (finger touching) is fastened with a washer and locknut from the inside of the car. This area of the body is reinforced triple sheetmetal and roughly 1/8-inch thick.

The stock subframe does not have this strengthened support area for extra body to frame stiffness. We just can't wait to drive this new school Nova! Check in with us next time as we install the engine and get this car buttoned up and running.

This 1969 Chevrolet Camaro coupe project car has its entire front clip replaced with a kit from Total Cost Involved, including coilover suspension, disc brakes, and a new steering rack - Super Chevy Magazine » Read More